A person informed of the league's plans tells NFL.com's Ian Rapoport that the NFL's leader in sacks will receive the Deacon Jones Award beginning in 2013. The award will be among those featured in the nationally televised "NFL Honors" award show the night before the Super Bowl.

I hope it isn't just the leader in sacks, but the pass rusher that had the most impact during the course of the season and made big plays in big games at crucial times.

I agree that would be better in terms of deserving the award.

But that gives too much power to whoever is voting for it... because someone could have like 20 sacks but none of them are really "game changers" and then someone wins the award with like 11 sacks but a couple of those were crucial.. that could turn into a popularity contest really quick.I feel like that would cause alot of debate and argument because whos to say outside of like a saftey which sack was more crucial than another sack..idk just my take.

I do agree if it were possible to clearly distinguish the BEST pass rusher taking into account pressures, crucial game changing plays along with sacks that would be great, but that leaves alot of room for personal interpretation.

But if it is just who has the most sacks it is atleast not debatable and just clear cut who was the best at sacking the QB.

Glad to see the award named after him. Supposedly, he coined the term sack or it was named after him.

One issue with it I have is why can't the NFL whoever be proactive and name an award while the guy is alive so he can see it. Not a fan of doing it after the player or person passes away. Do it while the guy is alive so he can see it or enjoy it.

Glad to see the award named after him. Supposedly, he coined the term sack or it was named after him.

One issue with it I have is why can't the NFL whoever be proactive and name an award while the guy is alive so he can see it. Not a fan of doing it after the player or person passes away. Do it while the guy is alive so he can see it or enjoy it.

Yes he did. I have heard him describe it a couple of different ways. In one description, he said it was like putting an entire city in a gunnysack and taking a baseball bat and beating it to death.

In another version, when he was much younger, he stated that it was like a hunter who killed a deer, gutted the animal, threw it in a gunnysack and slung it over his shoulder so he could walk home and cook it for dinner.

Personally, I found it more fascinating that he gave himself the nickname Deacon. He was a 14th round pick from Mississippi Valley St. after being dropped from the team at South Carolina St. for being involved in the civil rights movement. In those days there were only 12 teams in the league, and 20 rounds of the draft. Training camps were huge; I don't believe there was a limit to the number of guys who could participate. I have read of some training camps having well over 100 players to begin camp. They would be cut in huge waves. Jones was worried that no one would take notice of a 14th round pick from South Carolina named David Jones, so on the way out to L.A. he came up with the nickname Deacon and made a point to get noticed at camp no matter what. It worked. He was really raw and wasn't really that good early in his career, but he showed enough to catch the eye of coaches and stick around long enough to hone his craft. He claimed that in 1967 he had 26 sacks in a 14 game season, and another 6 sacks in a postseason loss to Green Bay. For the last 30 years he challenged the NFL and NFL Films to go back and look at his game film to confirm his numbers and credit him with the stats for the category he personally coined, but to date the league has not done so.

It's nice that they're honoring Jones, but the way they're doing it is lame. An award for a statistical accomplishment? So now we'll all say "Watt won the Deacon Jones award" instead of "Watt led the league in sacks". No. This just seems like an award created to generate some positive headlines and make everyone feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Soon they'll have an award for every statistical accomplishment there is. We don't need 12 new awards invented every year. Eventually everyone in the NFL will get an award that includes some giant, corny looking trophy.

It's nice that they're honoring Jones, but the way they're doing it is lame. An award for a statistical accomplishment? So now we'll all say "Watt won the Deacon Jones award" instead of "Watt led the league in sacks". No. This just seems like an award created to generate some positive headlines and make everyone feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Soon they'll have an award for every statistical accomplishment there is. We don't need 12 new awards invented every year. Eventually everyone in the NFL will get an award that includes some giant, corny looking trophy.

Well, Deacon Jones basically invented the statistic. If he hadn't decided that we should call it a sack when a defender tackles the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage when he had the intent to pass, then we would still just be calling it "tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage when he intended to pass."

Well, Deacon Jones basically invented the statistic. If he hadn't decided that we should call it a sack when a defender tackles the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage when he had the intent to pass, then we would still just be calling it "tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage when he intended to pass."

In honor of Deacon Jones they should change to term from "sack" to "Deacon".